Gloomy jack-o’-lantern lights, spooky costumes, frightening decorations — Halloween is almost here. As a holiday dedicated to fearful fun, it begs a fascinating question: Why can being scared be such a blast? According to experts, it’s about how the brain processes threats.
“When you enter a haunted house during Halloween season, for example, anticipating a ghoul jumping out at you and knowing it isn’t really a threat, you are able to quickly relabel the experience,” Linda Saab and Arash Javanbakht told the Conversation.
“In contrast, if you were walking in a dark alley at night and a stranger began chasing you, both your emotional and thinking areas of the brain would be in agreement that the situation is dangerous, and it’s time to flee,” they added.
The Wayne State University assistant professors of psychology study the neurobiology of fear so they can treat the condition in patients as practicing psychiatrists. According to their studies, the peculiar relationship between fear and fun comes down to context.
“When our ‘thinking’ brain gives feedback to our ‘emotional’ brain and we perceive ourselves as being in a safe space, we can then quickly shift the way we experience that high arousal state, going from one of fear to one of enjoyment or excitement,” they said.
The actual sensation of fear begins in the amygdala, where the brain determines what commands to send throughout the body to best defend itself. This “fight or flight” response is how the amygdala processes threats, but it also processes other emotions, the psychiatrists said.
“For example, the amygdala activates whenever we see a human face with an emotion,” Saab and Javanbakht continued. “This reaction is more pronounced with anger and fear. A threat stimulus, such as the sight of a predator, triggers a fear response in the amygdala, which activates areas involved in preparation for motor functions involved in fight or flight. It also triggers release of stress hormones and sympathetic nervous system.”
The hippocampus, which is connected to the amygdala, then works with the brain’s prefrontal cortex to interpret the possible threat. This is when the emotional information provided by the amygdala is processed for context through reasoning, allowing a person to differentiate between a legitimate threat and a scary movie.
“Basically, our ‘thinking’ circuitry of brain reassures our ‘emotional’ areas that we are, in fact, OK,” they said.
But that doesn’t explain why fear can be fun, only how fear can sometimes be not-so-fearful. For some, the sensation is a distraction from everyday stresses, like work or personal relationships. For others, it’s a bonding experience shared between friends and loved ones. But the most important reason, the experts said, is our sense of control.
“While each of these factors — context, distraction, social learning — have potential to influence the way we experience fear, a common theme that connects all of them is our sense of control,” they said. “When we are able to recognize what is and isn’t a real threat, relabel an experience and enjoy the thrill of that moment, we are ultimately at a place where we feel in control. ”
Once we realize we are safe and in control, they added, we can overcome that initial fight or flight response and enjoy the experience.
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